Corporate America has to maintain their online reputation. As the world evolves towards the internet as a resource tool, corporations must take the necessary steps to defend their online reputation. The best practice is by using online reputation management (ORM), which is a process that promotes the companies accomplishments and services in the best interest of the company. Online Reputation Management can be used as a sword or a shield. To promote your online reputation in a pro-active manner, there would need to be press releases, blogs, forums, and social media marketing put into place to promote the company and includes its corporate profile, services, testimonials, and even a list of clients. The goal for pro-active online reputation management is to place these positive reference links in the view of the search engine result pages so that any potential customer will view it and be assured they are getting the service they desire. Online Reputation Management done in a re-active manner can be a little bit trickier, as well a bit more difficult to accomplish. The first step to manage your online reputation once it has been tarnished would require a massive press release campaign, micro-sites, forums, blogs, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO). The goal for the re-active online reputation management program would be to dominate the search engine result pages and dilute and displace any types of negative links or blogs that may be tarnishing the corporate reputation. There are many websites as well as forums and blogs that allow customers as well as anonymous individuals to file complaints against a company, and some of these websites carry a heavy page rank from google. Websites such as Ripoffreport.com, Complaintsboard.com, My3cents.com, debtconsolidationcare.com, scam.com, and consumeraffairs.com are the most popular one that once a companies name shows up in a complaint, the complaint is most likely to show up on the search engine result pages for that company. While it is always a best business practice to handle your online reputation prior to receiving any complaints, it is never too late in order to manage your online reputation and get it cleaned up. A corporate reputation is a glimpse into a companies track record and that is the future of how people will decide whether or not to choose what company would best service their needs. “80% of consumers review a company they would like to do business with online, and 90% of those potential customers believe other reviews of a company”,says Eric Siversen of Stellar Concepts Search Engine Reputation Management Division (SERM) also known as Online Reputation Management (ORM). It is no secret that a corporate reputation must be maintained and now with Online Reputation Management it is possible to control your online press.

The Ripoffreport.com is a complaint website started by a man name Ed Magedson. Rip off Report was created to be a central platform for the consumers across the globe to leave a negative review or complaint against a company if they were wronged, treated poorly, or scammed. While the Ripoffreport requests all postings to be truthful, they also mention that all posts will NEVER be removed or verified. Companies are now able to be slandered by ex employees, competition, and any person that may want to cause harm to a companies online reputation and they can do it anonymously with no recourse. Rip off Report will not share any information in relation to any of the authors of the complaints, nor does Ripoffreport care if the complaints are false in nature. The biggest challenge corporate america faces with a website such as Ripoffreport is that they have a page rank of 4 out of 10, and is considered by Alexa.com the #3437 strongest website in the world wide web today. That shows the strength behind this website and in turn when someone includes the name of a business or individual in a complaint, the Rip off Report is very likely to show up on a search engine result page when someone types that business name or individuals name. While the internet is being used to do research on using potential businesses as well as for background information for employers to use when hiring individuals, there has never been a more vital time to start handling your online reputation as there is now. These Rip off Report links will always be there, as many have tried to have them removed and reportedly to no avail, there are many class action lawsuits against Ripoffreport and Ed Magedson but there doesn’t seem to be any public success documented. Negative postings and links can put a company out of business depending on the severity or easily cost a larger company millions of lost revenue whether the complaints are legitimate or not. The best way to avoid a Rip off Report complaint obviously is to have great customer service, and doing fair and legal business. Unfortunately in the world we live in, many people are quick to tarnish a companies reputation online just for personal gain or through frustration. Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM), also known as online reputation management (ORM), online reputation repair (ORR), corporate reputation management, reputation management, and search engine domination are programs that cater to promoting the accomplishments and good name of the company or individuals being search for on google or any other major search engine. This is a program that can be pro-active as well as re-active. Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) done pro-actively will provide a company with press releases, blogs, forums, social media, micro-sites, as well as other listings that shed a positive light on the company and portray to the public the vision and goals of the company. This process also provides a barrier of information on the first several pages of the search engine results pages and makes it more difficult for Rip off Report or any other complaint websites to break through to top search results. Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) done re-actively is a whole different animal and must be dealt with vigorously and swiftly in order to be effective. This process would include the same type of content but most likely in a larger quantity. Companies most likely will continue to lose money due to the Ripoffreport while this program is initiated and begins to dilute the negative RIpoffreport links and displace them to the bottom of the first page of the search engine results page, and hopefully to the second page and beyond where most consumers are unlikely to travel. The longer a company allows a ripoffreport, complaintsboard, my3cents.com, or any other complaint website or blogs links to burrow on the first page of google the harder those links will be to displace. Stellar Concepts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has become a leader in this new blossoming industry of Online Reputation Management and has been very successful in helping their clients achieve a prideful reputation online.

Unfortunately for most reputable businesses, the internet has become a thorn in the side of companies who have had disgruntled employees or sometimes competitors that use complaint websites with heavy search engine power to tarnish a companies online reputation. Ripoffreport.com happens to be the most popular complaint website that allows anonymous postings about companies on their website and allows them to speak their mind about a person or company regardless if it is legitimate or not. Many companies have lost an enormous amount of business from Ripoffreport postings. Once these complaints are filed they most likely show up on the first page of a google search almost overnight. These listings can NOT be removed, and Rip off report refuses to divulge any information on the author of the complaints. Companies think that responding to the links will help them “clear the air”, however this is not the case. The initial finding of the “Ripoffreport” is enough to cloud a potential clients judgement, and in most cases regardless of how ridiculous the complaint may sound and the reply may be- the potential client is most likely to look for a competitor to do business with. Companies need to be aware of their online reputation, and it is always recommended that you take a proactive approach by showcasing the accomplishments of the company before negative information appears. Ripoffreport can be displaced n the search results by having it pushed back to the second page or beyond with search engine reputation management (SERM), also commonly know as Online Reputation Repair (ORR), Online Reputation Management (ORM), and Search Engine Domination (SED). This involves a complicated and intense series of techniques that aims to replace the top 10 search results on google with positive information about the company and dilute or displace the complaint links. This process usually takes months to accomplish especially when dealing with websites as strong as RipoffReport and complaintsboard.com. “When a company is slandered by the RipoffReport, they need to act swiftly in order to combat the complaint websites or they will develop more clout with the search engines”,says Eric Siversen – VP of Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) division of Stellar Concepts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.